Anita's Biggest Mistake
by Animaltalker
Summary: A short LennieAnita story another way they might end up together


Boy, when she made mistakes she tended to make them in bunches. First, she decided to move out of her home of twenty years and into her own apartment in the middle of a brutal heat wave. Then she failed to account for her sons both deciding to head to the mountains for one last hiking trip before they had to head back to college on that same weekend. As she wasn't about to ask her soon to be ex-husband to help her move that meant she'd have to ask either her brother-in-law or one of her detectives to help her move. She figured her brother-in-law could be counted on to help but no, he was finally taking her sister on a little get away. So she made her biggest mistake she asked the one detective she wouldn't feel guilty asking to help her, but the one she knew deep down inside that she never should have asked. 

She asked Lennie Briscoe to help her move. In some ways he was the perfect person for the job. Lennie's skills seemed to not only include being a good detective and a great pool player, but an excellent packer. He got all her things into the U-Haul and her SUV with the overflow in his sedan. They drove to her second floor 2-bedroom apartment and started unpacking. Lennie knew how to do all the impossible things, like how to rotate her big couch and the arm chair so they fit through the front door. 

He began helping her bringing up her boxes a few at a time, climbing the stairs rather than taking the slow elevator. By the time he had most of the boxes up, his shirt was drenched with sweat. He paused for a moment and took off the blue work shirt he had on, leaving him in an A-Shirt and a pair of blue jeans. Anita could see the sweat glistening on his shoulders and arms. Lennie used what little of his work shirt wasn't already wet to wipe the sweat off his arms and neck and threw the shirt on to a stack of boxes. 

She had unpacked enough of her kitchen things to be able to make a pitcher of lemonade, she threw a lot of ice from the bag she'd bought at the corner bodega into a tall glass and poured the lemonade over it, and then brought it out to Lennie. He thanked her and chugged the whole thing asking for more. The way he looked at her when he asked for more made a shiver go down her back despite the heat. 

She had no idea how long she would have stood there rooted to the floor with her dark brown eyes locked to his blue, if not for the knock on the door. It was the deliverymen with her new bed. They brought the bookcase headboard, the frame, the mattress and box spring into the master bedroom, the only room with an air conditioner. They sat everything down on one side of the room and asked her to sign a form saying they'd delivered everything. She was shocked and dismayed that they weren't going to set it up for her. They said not to worry it only required some simply tools, she and her "husband", er "boyfriend" would be able to set it up themselves in no time. Before she could become too distressed, Lennie offered to set it up. She admitted she had no tools. Lennie said no problem, he had a small toolkit in his car, it should contain what they needed. 

Lennie finally got his second glass of lemonade before he set up the frame. When he finished, Anita started to maneuver the box springs towards it, but he stopped her, saying he needed to bolt the frame to the headboard first. After he did that he helped her remove all the packaging on the box springs and mattress and maneuver them into place. He asked her why she got a queen-size bed, she explained that she didn't have to buy new linen that way. She found a set of sheets and some of her pillows and made the bed, that's when her biggest mistake came home to roost. Lennie asked her if he could help her break the bed in. 

Anita knew she should tell him no, but she couldn't. It was something she'd wanted for a long, long time. She knew all the reasons she should rebuff him, she was his boss, she was in the midst of a divorce and could therefore be considered to be on the rebound. 

Lennie waited patiently, a bit shocked at himself that he'd had the temerity to voice his long suppressed desire for her, but glad that he had. The fact that she wasn't answering him immediately with a slap across the face or laughter raised his hopes. He knew there were good reasons for them not to cross this line but he was hoping that they could slake the desire for one another and then put it behind them. 

As he was musing about things, he sensed her move towards him almost imperceptible and he moved to meet her. Soon they were frantically tearing at each others clothes as they sought to touch and taste every inch of the others body. His desire to possess her and his desire to savor the moment warred within him until finally he could resist no longer. 

As he entered the warmth and tightness of the woman he had so longed desired, he knew he had been mistaken. Anita was not a woman he could casually bang and then go back and work side by side with her as though nothing had happened. He knew that because he couldn't bang her, he had to make love to her. 

Anita was conflicted. It felt wonderful to be with Lennie except she'd hoped that she wouldn't feel so much, that she'd be able to put it behind her, to tell him they'd have to pretend it never happened, but she couldn't. She couldn't make love to him and then pretend it meant nothing. 'Make love to him!" she thought, 'that's the problem; she wasn't suppose to do that! It was just suppose to be a quick romp with a bang buddy, she wasn't suppose to be in love with him.' 

They climaxed together and the sounds they made seemed to be strange combinations of joy and sorrow. Afterwards, Anita cried and Lennie held her. He was angry, not at Anita not even at himself, but at their circumstances. Anita decided she'd made so many mistakes she could afford one more, so she laid her head down on Lennie's chest and very softly said "I love you". 

Lennie couldn't believe what he'd heard her say and he wasn't sure if it made things better or worse but he decided if she could be brave enough to say it he could too. 

When she heard his reply, Anita's world seemed to shift crazily. She had to ask herself 'was having Lennie help her move the biggest mistake of her life or the rightest thing she'd ever done?' 


End file.
